Hosiery



March 14, 1939. ,J. H. MILLER ET AL 2,150,335

' HOSIERY Filed March 1'7, 193'? 2 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY M INVENTOI-QS tgfisv Patented Mar. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE W. Va., Company, of New Jersey Application March 17,

3 Claims.

Our invention consists in the novel features hereinafterdescribed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which illustrate one manner in which we have contemplated carrying ou'r invention into effect, and said invention is fully disclosed in the following description and claims.

Briefly stated, our invention consists in a novel welt for hosiery and the like, the said welt being particularly desirable for use at the upper end assignors of a plain knit top for a. sock or stocking in which an elastic thread is incorporated in selected and preferably spaced courses, and locked into the plain knit fabric at certain selected and preferably spaced wales of the said selected courses, i i/although the said welt may be used in connection with a fabric formed of either plain or rib knitting, with or without an elastic thread incorporated therein.

The herein described process of knitting is not claimed herein as it forms the subject matter of our application flled August 21, 1937, and given Serial No. 160,246, which is a division of this application.

In carrying our invention into effect, after forming one or more courses of plain knitting, every other'needle is removed from the knitting cylinder while holding the stitches thereon, and a plurality of courses are knit on the remaining needles, the knitting thread being floated from one needle to another across the space formerly occupiedby a removed needle, and an elastic thread preferably of rubber, or of -the well known Lastex" being carried around on the outside of the fabric, preferably without being fed to an: of the needles, during the formation of some 01 all of said courses. The removed needles are then replaced in the cylinder still carrying their originally held loops and a course or courses of plain knitting is or are formed. 1 This forms an annular tube or pocket in which the several coils of elastic thread are enclosed and produc an antiravel welt, having a'core of the plurality of coils of rubber thread, which will also have some eifect as a garter member in preventing, movement of the stocking top longitudinally of the leg. After producing the welt by plain knitting on alternate needles as above described, a plain knit top may be knitted thereon, withor without the incorpo-' ration of an elastic thread in said top, or a rib knit top may be knit onto the last course of plain knitting of the welt, or a self-sustaining plain knit top with elastic thread incorporated therein as previously described and having united thereto a plain knit leg and footpor arib knit leg of 55 6 x 3 rib knitting or other form of rib knitting,

to Interwoven Stocking New Brunswick, N. J., a corporation 1937, Serial 'No. 131,396

as described in our application for Letters Patent of the United States filed, Mar. 5, 1937,'and given Serial No. 129,206.

Referring to the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 represents a seamless sock having our improved welt embodied therein, in connection with a top of plain knitting having elastic thread incorporated in selected courses, and locked into selected wales of said selected courses.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view representing a sectional view of the welt and a portion of the top illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a similar view showing the welt formed integrally with a plain knit top not having elastic thread incorporated therein.

Figure 4 is a partial sectional view. of the knitting cylinders of a' circular knitting machine capable of carrying our invention into eflect.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view showing a course of plain knitting held on all the needles of the circular knitting machine.

- Figure 6 is a similar view showing every alternate needle removed from the circular'series but holding their stitches.

Figure '7 is a similar view illustrating the formation of a course of stitches upon the remaining needles and the feeding of an unknit elastic thread above the hooks of the needles. 'FIgure 8 is a similar view illustrating theformation of a succeeding similar course of stitches and the feeding of a succeeding coil of unknit elastic thread. Y

Figure 9 is a detail representing a partial sectional view of the fabric at the stage indicated in Figure '7.

Figure 10 is a view similar to Figure 5 showing the removed needles returned to the circular series, still retaining their stitches.

Figure 11 is a similar view showing the formation of a course of plain knitting produced by all the needles to complete the welt.

Figure. 12 is a view similar to Figure 9 showing the formation of the welt at the stage indicated in Figure 10.

Figure 13 is a similar view showing the welt completed and followed by courses of plain knitting. 1

In carrying our invention into effect, we find it convenient to employ a knitting machine of the type in which two co-axial cylinders located one above the other and having their respective needle grooves in vertical alinement are provided in connection with a circular series of needles having the usual hook and latch at each end of each needle, so that all of the needles may be operated in conjunction with suitable cam mechanism in one cylinder, as the lower cylinder, for knitting plain knit fabric, while selected needles may be moved vertically into the grooves of the other cylinder while retaining the stitches thereon and caused to knit by suitable cam mechanism for the upper cylinder in conjunction with the nonselected needles remaining in the lower cylinder, for the production of rib knitting when desired. A convenient circular knitting machine of this type is the well known Komet machine and we have shown so much of one of these machines as is necessary for an understanding of our present invention.

In Figure 4 of the drawings for example, Ill represents the lower knitting cylinder provided with vertically movable sliders ll, located in the grooves thereof, and having in this instance long selecting nibs I2 (on alternate sliders) and knitting nibs l3 (on all of the sliders) for engaging suitable cams on the cam cylinder indicated at it. Each of the sliders II is provided at its upper end with a terminal portion comprising a needle engaging hook l5 and a latch engaging extension I6 for connecting the sliders with such needles as are present in the lower knitting cylinder. 20 represents the upper needle cylinder provided with a series of sliders 2| engaging,

the grooves thereof and having selecting nibs 22 and knitting nibs 23 for engaging cams in the upper cam cylinder 24. The upper set of sliders are also provided at their lower ends with a terminal portion comprising the needle engaging hooks 25 and latch engaging extensions 26 for connecting them with the upper ends of the needles when the latter are transferred to the upper cylinder as hereinafter described.

The needles indicated at 30 and 30', are provided as shown with the usual hook 3| and latch 32 at each end. When the needles are in the lower cylinder as shown in the lower part of Figure 4, their lower hooks will engage the hooks l5 of the corresponding sliders II, and the extensions IB will engage the lower latches as indicated in the figure, so that the needles will be operated by and with the sliders ll. When any of the needles are in the upper cylinder as indicated in the upper portion of Figure 4, their upper hooks will engage the hooks 25. and the adjacent latches will engage the extensions 26 of the corresponding sliders 2!, so that such needles will be operated by and with the upper slider. It will be obvious that the needles can thus be transferred from one cylinder to the other, as desired. When, for example, all of the needles are in the lower cylinder, the machine is adjusted for and will produce plain knitting under the action of the usual knitting cam mechanism of the lower cam cylinder. If alternate needles or groups of needles are transferred to the upper cylinder for operation by the cam mechanism for the upper cylinder, the machine is adjusted for rib knitting if both cylinders are operated in conjunction with their respective cam mechanisms. In Figure 4, we have indicated the lower cam cylinder at M and the upper cam cylinder at 24. The cam cylinder M will be provided with the usual knitting cams adjacent to the throat which is provided with a plurality of thread feeding fingers or thread guides in the usual manner, capable of movement into and out of operative position. One of said feeding fingers is supplied with a body thread or threads in the usual manner, and

a separate finger is supplied with an elastic thread which may be a rubber thread or-the well known Lastex'fl for example. The elastic thread feeding finger is conveniently the finger ordinarily used for laying in an additional thread when the machine is used for producing rib knitting for a reason which will clearly appear hereinafter.

In carrying out our present invention by means of the Komet machine, for example, let it be supposed that all of the needles are located in the lower cylinder and have been operated for the production of. plain knitting, the loops of the last course of which are engaged by the hooks of the needles of the entire circular series. These loops indicated at a in Figure 5, for example, may' be the terminal course of raveling courses a of a preceding seamless sock or stocking as indicated in Figs. 9, 12 and 13, or they may obviously be the terminal course of a series of setting up courses if no previous stocking has been knitted. I

To form the selvage every alternate needle, as the needles indicated at 30, having the long butts [2 are transferred to the upper cylinder by suitable cam mechanism in the cam cylinder l4 (not shown). These needles are raised part way by the lower sliders, under the action of the cam mechanism to place their upper ends in engagement with the upper sliders, which hold the lower latches in open position, the loops previously drawn by the upper hooks sliding down the shanks of the needles. As the cylinder revolves, the body thread is fed to all the needles, that is the upper hooks of the needles in the lower cylinder and the lower books of the raised needles 30'. The lower sliders are then disengaged from the raised needles 30 which are raised to their highest positions in the upper'cylinder, each drawing a stitch through the loop on its shank which is cast off in the usual manner. This leaves the elevated loop a of the course held on the lower hooks of the needles 30' in the upper cylinder and the remaining loops, a, held on the needles 30 in the lower cylinder, as indicated in Fig. 6, and in accordance with the normal operation of the Komet machine.

The upper cam cylinder is automatically adjusted at this time so.as not to effect the operation of the raisedneedles 30 in the ordinary manner provided in this machine. These raised needles, therefore, merely hold the alternate loops a without knitting, while the body thread is fed by its appropriate feeding finger to the needles 30 in the lower cylinder which continue to knit circular courses, which obviously contain only half the usual number of stitches. One of these courses is shown at a in Figure '7 and these,

courses may be referred to as welt courses to distinguish them from the regular courses of knitting on all of the needles. A plurality of these welt courses are knitted, the number being v During the knitting of the welt courses a, the

feeding finger carrying the elastic thread is moved into action, passing first into position to feed the elastic thread into hooks of a plurality of the needles 30 sufficient to tie in the end of the without interfering with rubber or elastic thread, and passing beyond this needle feeding position to a position where the rubber or elastic thread will besimply laid or wound around the outside 'of the fabric being formed by the welt courses a, without being knitted, the final position of this thread guide being substantially the same as that which it would occupy if it were used to lay in an extra thread during rib knitting.

In Figure '7, we have shown the first coil of the elastic thread at b' and have also illustrated at the left of the figure a portion of the elastic thread 'knit in plating relation with the body thread in one of the stitches as indicated at b, for the purpose of tying it into the fabric. This position of the needles and fabric and the elastic thread are also shown in a. diagrammatic sectional view of Figure 9 in which 0' represents the loop held by one of the raised needles 30', a represent loops of a successive welt course and a represents the previously knitted terminal courses preceding the formation of the welt, which as before stated, may be a portion of a, preceding sock or stocking, and 12 represents the first course or coil of rubber thread or "Lastex.

During the knitting of the welt courses, a plurality of coils or courses of the rubber or elastic thread 1) are wound around the outside of the welt courses in parallelism as indicated inFigure 8, which shows two of the elastic spirals so positioned. Any number of coils of the elastic thread b can be laid or wound continuously upon the outside of the welt courses as they are being formed according to the size of the welt desired, but we have found that for a narrow welt comprising, say twelve welt courses, it is sufficient to apply fourof the spiral rounds of elastic thread .as indicated in Figures 12 and 13, for example.

When the desired number of spirals of the elastic thread b have been wound around the welt courses, the feeding finger for the elastic thread is withdrawn and as it is retracted to its inoperative position it will feeding position in which it feeds the elastic thread to a plurality of the needles 30, thereby tying into the fabric the other end of the elastic thread. As the feeding of the elastic thread occurs at a point where the needles begin to move downwardly through the knitting wave, the feeding finger for the elastic thread can be moved past the feeding position when it moves into operative position and again through the feeding position as it returns to inoperative position the vneedles 30, as will be readily understood.

After the elastic thread has been discontinued and its end secured, the knitting of welt courses will continue until the desired number has been knit. The raised needles 30' are then transferred downwardly into the grooves of the lower cylinder, operatively connected with the sliders in the lower cylinder and disconnected from the sliders of the upper cylinder which are returned to their normal positions according to the usual operation of themachine, the said needles 30 still retaining their loops will be lowered by the upper sliders through said loops, until their lower ends are engaged by the lower sliders, while a course of body thread is fed to the hooks at the upper ends of all of the needles. The upper sliders are then vdisengaged from needles 30',

' which are drawn down by the lower sliders to cast oil the previously held loops, and leave loops :1,-

. which are now held in, .the hooks at the upper single pass again through the I the salvage ends of said needles, as shown in Figure 10, thus restoring the machine to the condition for knitting p lain fabric on all the needles of the entire circular series and producing an annular, tubular welt 1.0 containing the series of rubber strands or coils b as clearly indicated in Figure 12. A complete circular course of plain stitches a is then knit on all of the loops a and a, as indicated in Figure 11, thus uniting the stitches or loops 0. and a, and completing the formation of the welt. As a'matter of fact, we prefer. ordinarily to knit a plurality of these circular courses a, two or more, as indicated in Figure 13, although this is not absolutely essential, as a course of plain knit stitches is sufllcient to complete the welt. Having completed the welt, the knitting may proceed in any usual or desired manner. The knitting of plain courses may continue to form the top of a sock, for example, as illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3, an elastic thread indicated at 0 being introduced under tension in separated courses and locked into the plain knit fabric at spaced wales, preferably in vertical alignment in each course, in any one of the ways fully set forth in our application for Letters Patent of the United States, Serial 'No. 129,206, filed March 5, 1937, and as clearly illustrated in .Figures 1 and 2, the intervening ting or rib knitting (for example 6 x 3 rib), as,

described in our application above referred to, and the foot of the stocking will be finished in any usual or desired manner.

It will be understood that the selvage w formed in the manner previously described, will be severed from the previous courses a constituting the toe of a previously knitted sock, or set up courses as the case may be, in the usual manner.

In Figure 1,we have shown a sock comprising w made as previously described, to the last plain course a to which is knit a top indicated at t formed of plain knitting and having incorporated therein an elastic thread c of rubber, Lastex, or other suitable material, in spaced courses and united to the fabric at spaced and vertically aligned wales thereof, so as to provide floats on the inner face of the top t, the rubber or other elastic thread being fed under light tension sufficient to drawthe fabric into vertically disposed rib-like ridges, simulating rib work, and providing not only a form fitting eflect, but serving also to support the entire leg of the sock on the leg of the wearer and to prevent it from working downward. 'It will be seen that the successive coils b of rubber or Lastex within the welt will draw the wales of the courses forming the welt into close proximity and prevent flaring at the-top of the stocking, and will also cooperate with the rubber or Lastex, or other elastic threads 0 in the top portion in providing the form fitting effect and theself-supporting ;and top necessary to enable it to be drawn 'over the foot. 1 represents the leg of the stocking which, in this instance, is shown as formed of plain knitting without any rubber or elastic threads in any of the courses, and f represents the foot of the stocking provided with the usual, heel and toe, in this instance, all of plain knitting. It will be understood that the top t provided with the welt w, can be made separately and attached to a leg of a stocking knit separately, by stitching, looping or otherwise, if that is found convenient or desirable, and in such case the leg of the stocking may be either of plain or rib fabric as desired, and as previously stated, the leg of the stocking whether of plain or rib knitting can be knit integrally with the top t provided with the welt w. Where a stocking is knit without a form fitting or self-sustaining top, as for example in a ladys stocking, the welt w may be followed by courses of plain knitting without incorporating elastic threads therein, as indicated at Z in Figure 3. It will be understood that the presence of the elastic thread b within the welt w will prevent flaring at the top edge of the stocking and will also have a garter effect in preventing the stocking from working downward, even in such case, and whether the tubular portion following the welt is of plain knitting or rib knitting.

It will be understood that the coil or coils of elastic thread which are enclosed in the welt are preferably fed and wound around the welt courses as hereinbefore described under tension, and the tension may be varied in any well known way to secure in the completed welt the desired amount of tension to make it form fitting and to efiect a self-supporting function either alone or in connection with the form of top shown in Figs. 1 and 2, without materially limiting the stretch of the welt to an undesirable degree. Where the welt is formed integrally with the plain knit top provided with an elastic thread under tension in spaced courses united to the fabric at spaced wales in said courses, the tension on the elastic thread in the welt will be so adjusted that the welt will be contracted in the undistended condition of the sock to substantially the same extent as the plain knit top, in which the vertical rib like ridges simulating rib knitting are formed.

' What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A stocking having a selvage welt, comprising a complete normal course of plain knitting, a plurality of successive welt courses of plain knitting, each containing substantially half the number of stitches of said complete normal course, the stitches of the first welt course being knitted to alternate loops'of said complete normal course and the stitches of the last welt course being united to the remaining stitches of said complete normal course by a complete normal course of plain knitting to form a tubular welt, all the stitches of said complete normal and welt courses being formed of the same continuous thread, and

a complete normal course of plain knitting, a 10 plurality of successive welt courses of plain knitting, each containing substantially half the number of stitches of said complete normal course, the stitches of the first welt course being knitted to alternate loops of said complete normal course and the stitches of the last welt course being united to the remaining stitches of said complete normal course by a complete normal course of plain knitting to form a tubular welt, all of the stitches of said complete normal and welt courses being formed of the same continuous thread, and a plurality of coils of elastic thread under tension enclosed within said welt courses, and holding the wales of said welt courses and complete courses forming the welt in close proximity to prevent flaring of the upper end of the stocking, and consecutive complete normal courses forming the leg of the stocking knit into said last mentioned complete normal course and formed of the same thread.

3. A stocking having a selvage welt, comprising a complete normal course of plain knitting, a plurality of successive welt courses of plain knitting, each containing substantially half the number of stitches of said complete normal course, the stitches of the first welt course being knitted to alternate loops of said complete normal course and the stitches of the last welt course being united to the remaining stitches of said complete normal course by a complete normal course of plain knitting to form a tubular welt, all the stitches of said complete normal and welt course being formed of the same continuous thread, and a plurality of coils of elastic thread under tension enclosed within said welt courses and holding the wales of said welt courses and complete courses forming the welt in close proximity to prevent flaring of the upper end of the stocking, and consecutive complete normal courses forming the leg of the stocking knit into said last mentioned complete normal course and formed of the same thread, and an elastic thread under tension incorporated in spaced courses of said leg fdrming courses adjacent to saidwelt and locked therein at spaced vertically aligned wales and drawing the said portion of the leg fabric into vertical rib like ridges when in undistended condition.

JOHN H. MILLER. FRANK EVANS. 

